MITCHELL, S.D.  (MITCHELLNOW) The federal Community Health Center Fund helps pay for the nation’s largest primary-care network, which served more than 31-million people last year. Nine out of ten patients have incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Joe Dunn with The National Association of Community Health Centers says the network serves one-in-ten Americans and one-in-five living rurally.

  “We’ve been fortunate that we have incredible bipartisan support in Congress. But as of right now the funding is expiring and we need Congress to act to extend that and hopefully increase it moving forward.”

According to the Congressional Budget Office, Dunn says, primary-care services offered at health centers reduce Medicaid and Medicare costs because preventive care helps avoid higher-cost scenarios like hospitalizations and emergency room visits.

In South Dakota, Horizon Health offers medical, dental, behavioral health and telemedicine services to 27-thousand patients in rural areas across more than one-third of the state, according to C-E-O Wade Erickson. He says federal funds provide for up to 35-percent of Horizon’s budget, which is more than some other centers.

   “We have less visits, less populations in our communities. So, you don’t have the amount of patient revenue that can offset that. So, we do rely on the federal dollar a lot more than maybe our counterparts do in other areas of the country.”

Advocates are asking Congress to reauthorize 5-point-8 billion dollars annually through the Community Health Center Fund for the next three years.